Page 12 



BETTER FRUIT 



Jammry. ig20 



Xow note what has been accomphsh- 

 ed in the intervening .\ears: The Ignited 

 States niircau of Markets in a circuhir 

 issued on May 1st, 1919, reports that 

 there were shipped out of the states of 

 Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Mon- 

 tana, of the 1918 crop, 18,8'19 carloads 

 of apples, and that these 18,849 car- 

 loads were directly distributed to 743 

 differcnl primary destinations scattered 

 over every stale of the I'nion and 

 every province of Canada. 



Now this impressive distribution has 

 not, like Topsy, "just growed" — it is 

 the clearly demonstratable result of in- 

 telligent, sustained, constructive sales- 

 manship and advertising conducted and 

 financed by the organized minority. But 

 for this tremendous expansion of the 

 market for boxed apples, nothing could 

 have prevented a series of market dis- 

 asters ending in the bankruptcy of the 

 industry. Non-organization growers are 

 too prone to attribute their period of 

 prosperity to superficial causes, or to 

 give undue weight to certain contrib- 

 uting causes, such as shortage of com- 

 petitive crops, superiority of their prod- 

 uct, etc. These factors are all important, 

 but fundamental to the whole problem 

 — the one indispensable controlling fac- 

 tor — is distribution and it cannot be 

 too strongly reiterated that distribution 

 is not a spontaneous growth, but a 

 definite result, flowing from intelli- 

 gently directed efl'ort. 



I think this is especially interesting 

 as I hear so much talk of "cash buy- 

 ers" which are well enough I think 

 when recognized in their true propor- 

 tion as a fractional part of the whole 

 market, but a very dangerous factor 

 when, as too often happens, the grower 

 puts his whole dependence on the "cash 

 buyer" and neglects to provide selling 

 machinery which is reliable in years 

 of market adversity when sales are dif- 

 ficult and require genuine salesmanship 

 to effect, as well as in years like the 

 past four or five in which a sales or- 

 ganization has, to the shortsighted ones 

 among the growers, seemed only a 

 burden. 



Now I am not forgetting that my sub- 

 ject is a financial one, but these (jues- 

 tions of organization, distribution, and 

 marketing are fundamental to practical 

 financing. 'Ihe banker wants to know 

 that the security behind his loan is 

 amide and this assurance is strength- 

 ened when numbers of growers are 

 joined together in guaranteeing an un- 

 dertaking. But, the independent says: 

 "The fruit is good security of itself." 

 The banker answers: "Perhaps. It is 

 good security if in strong, competent 

 hands, but very doubtful security in 

 weak hands." The banker wants to 

 know' that the industry he is financing 

 has a sales policy and commands a de- 

 pendable year-in-and-year-out, rain-or- 

 shine marketing machinery that is able 

 to cope with an adverse market situa- 

 tion as well as merely to ride the tide 

 of prosperity. And it must never be 

 forgotten that the law of equal and 

 opposite reaction has never yet failed 

 to operate — that the pendulum has 

 never failed to swing backward as far 

 as it swung forward. There are signs 

 that commodity prices have reached if 

 not passed their crest. A reaction is 



coming sooner or later and while this 

 need not spell disaster or even loss it 

 does mean a declining market, when 

 the real test of the strength or weak- 

 ness, the soundness or rottenness of 

 industrial organization will come. 



"In lime of peace prepare for war" 

 w'as the inuuoi-fal advice of the illus- 

 trious pati'iot for whom our great slate 

 was named, and the banker's para- 

 phrase of this is "In time of prosperity 

 prepare for adversity." 



The question of by-products and the 

 many important interests tied in with 

 the general fruit business belongs im- 

 portantly to the general subject I am en- 

 deavoring to treat. For lack of time, 

 however, I would bricfiy stale that the 

 cjuestion of financial strength of the 

 borrower is the all important one, be 

 the industry a cannery, a dehydrating 

 plant, or any other. Any of these en- 

 terprises desiring bank help must ob- 

 serve great care to satisfy the banker 

 that the organization is a well-rounded 

 one, that it knows its business, that it 

 has good marketing connections, and 

 that its brands are backed up with 

 every showing of intelligence and sin- 

 cerity. 



Northwest Apple Grade Schedule Submitted 



AT the recent conference of the 

 Northwest fruitgrowers held in 

 Spokane a tentative apple grading 

 schedule was submitted for Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. This 

 plan has been in prospect for several 

 years and it is hoped that it will now 

 be realized. The advantages claimed 

 for the new schedule are that it is more 

 simple than the ones now in use in the 

 various states and that a uniform grad- 

 ing for boxed apples is very much 

 needed. In making out the new sched- 

 ule it was necessary for Washington to 

 raise the color requirements on the 

 fancy grade and for Idaho to lower 

 them. Some of the size requirements 

 were dropped and other changes made. 

 The new schedule which has the en- 



dorsement of the conference is as 

 follows: 



Extra Fancy. 

 Extra fancy apples are defined as 

 sound, mature, clean hand picked, well 

 formed apples only, free from all insect 

 pests, diseases, blemishes, bruises and 

 other physical injuries, scald, scab, 

 scale, dry or bitter rot, worm stings, 

 worm holes, spray burns, limb rub, vis- 

 ible water core, skin punctures or skin 

 broken at stem, but slight russeting 

 within the basin of the stem shall be 

 permitted. 



Fancy Grade. 



Fancy apples are defined as apples 

 complying with the standard of Extra 

 Fancy grade, except that slight leaf 



the Point 



u, 



FRUIT 

 WRAPPER! 



Chemically Treated 

 " Car o" Protects 



"Caro" from DessiCARE (to dry up) 



"Caro" 



Prolongs the 



Life of Fruit 



Why? 



Fruit decomposition starts from a bruise which opens tiny holes and permits the juice to escape and BACTERIA to enter. 

 "Caro" clings closely and dries up the escaping juice. "Caro" ingredients harden the spot, kill the BACTERIA, arrests the decom- 

 position—and thus PROLONGS THE LIFE OF FRUIT. If your fruit is worth shipping it is worth keeping in best condition. 



Demand "CARO"— Wrap Your Fruit in "CARO"— The Fruit Buyer Knows "CARO" 



Order from Any Fruit Company or American Sales Agencies Co., 112 Market St., San Francisco 



WHEN WRITING ADVERTISERS MENTION BETTER FRUIT 



